Poker Talk With HOP: Speaking The Language

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In almost every Sport, Occupation, Hobby or Game there will be a language that emerges. Anywhere from acronyms to common household words that take on a whole new meaning when used by people with the same interest. The poker language has become quite extensive and can leave new players lost and scratching their head wondering what the rest of the tables talking about. In two of my previous posts, I touched on Poker Slang/Lingo and Nicknames for Poker Hands. In this post, I'll be merging the two together like you may hear sitting around the poker table.

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So you think you're ready to sit down at a poker table. It is normal, if you don't play a lot of Poker, to be nervous or even a little fearful when sitting down at a local home game, big Casino or even a freeroll at the Steemit Poker League. One of the best ways to combat fear or nervousness is with knowledge. Being familiar with the language specific to any craft can give you the Slight Edge and confidence you may need to succeed.

Okay, now that we understand why it can be important to be comfortable with speaking the poker language I'm going to give you an example. Then break it down into “layman's terms”.

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Let's say you're on a vacation in Las Vegas. You decide to sit down at a $1 $2 cash game and hear a conversation that goes a little something like this.

“Listen to the cooler I got dealt yesterday. Under the gun limps in for $2. It gets folded around to the cutoff which raises to $10. The dealer button folds along with the small blind. I'm in the big blind holding a couple of hooks. Since the cutoff could be raising any two cards I decide to pop it to $25. Surprisingly the player under the gun snap calls and the player in the cut off position mucks his hand. The Flop comes out Queen, deuce, Jack with the Jack right in the window. Being first to act and hitting a set on the flop I decided to trap and check my trips. During the game, I noticed this player had been playing quite Nitti so when he made a bet of $20 it was a little worrying but I still felt like I had the best hand. Of course I called the $20... Lying in wait to Spring my trap the dealer burns and turns throwing out a seven. Not ready to pull the trigger yet and not believing the seven helped him I check again to see if my opponent will continue to hang himself. Lo and behold he lets out a little more rope and bets $30 this time. I flat call with intentions to jam on the river. The river comes another blank, a five to be exact. I go into the tank for a little bit thinking about what he could have. There were no straight or flush possibilities so the only hand that had me beat was two ladies. Didn't think he would limp preflop with the ladies so I Jam the rest of my stack in for $65. He snap calls me again and immediately flips over pocket Queens…. Rebuy on table 2. lol”

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There's some of you that followed that hand break down as easily as following a child's book and then there are others that got lost after the first few sentences. let's break it down a little bit for the ones that couldn't follow it all.

The storyteller starts off with the word cooler in the first sentence followed by the phrase under gun and limp. A cooler is referring to having the second best hand possible when you're up against the best hand possible. Under the gun is the player first to act after the big blind and limping in a pot means to just call the big blind. The “cut off” is the player to the right of the dealer button and of course hooks are pocket jacks (JJ). The action of popping a pot means to raise it up. A snap call is when your opponent immediately calls your bet with no hesitation. To muck your hand simply means to fold. When a card is in the window it means it’s the first card seen on the flop as the dealer is spread them out.

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A set is three of a kind and a trap is to lay in wait with what you think is the best hand so you can let out a big bet later in the hand. A Nitty player is one that only plays the best starting hands and typically doesn’t take many risks. Burning and turning is when the dealer puts one card face down in the discard pile (burn) and turns another card face up on the board for everyone to play. Flat calling is when you call a bet when most of the time your expected raise or fold. When a player jams they put in a big bet or go all in. A blank is when a community card comes out that didn’t help you or your opponent. Going into the tank at the poker table means that you are taking a while to make your decision... Now try reading the hand break down again to see if you understand more than the first time you read it.

Learning the language may not help you become a better poker player. Only tons of practice and your willingness to learn from your mistakes will do that. But being comfortable at the table is a good start. The old saying “Fake it till you make it” comes in mind in this instance.

Thank you for reading this Poker Talk With HOP! I look forward to doing many more. See ya at the tables!

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